It’s no secret that Avionos is growing quickly. Last year, we increased headcount by nearly 90%! With so many client initiatives going on at any point in time, it’s important to have project managers to keep teams on track!
Project managers are the main liaison between Avionos’ teams and the client and work with both to break down projects into smaller, agile steps and provide updates along the way. Our PM Benjamin Rodriguez is an organization extraordinaire who keeps teams on schedule while delivering high-quality projects. Learn about his experience on the A-Team in Colombia below:
Give Me A Brief Background On Your Career, Where You’re From, And Your Favorite Way To Spend Your Time Outside Of Work.
I’ve been working as a Project Manager for almost 10 years now with special focus as an IT Project Manager over the past 5 years, mainly working with CMS projects (AEM, Sitecore, Drupal, and WordPress). My bachelor’s degree is in advertising and communications and I have a Master’s degree in Management. I’m from Cartagena, Colombia – but I’ve been living most of my life in Bogotá. I like to play guitar, video games, and binge watch tv shows and movies with my fiance on the weekends! I also like to go out to restaurants and travel (when possible).
Why Did You Want To Work As a PM?
I’ve always liked to organize activities and events. I used to have a restaurant myself and was in charge of making sure we followed up with suppliers, kept up with all taxes and made sure we were up to date with all the operations. I also used to have music events done with friends in different venues. I found that I was good at coordinating and started getting into the PM world. I actually began working as an account executive at an ad agency and quickly moved to coordinate creative production. At that time, the Creative PM also coordinated some IT development (landing pages, websites, etc.) and that’s how I started in software development. The rest is history!
What Drew You To Joining The ATeam?
The possibility of working in a small company rather than a huge conglomerate is the ease of making things happen in a short period of time. Usually, multinational companies have a lot of processes that make decisions and projects take longer than expected. Also, being part of the A-Team I feel I can influence organizational decisions as we have a horizontal structure that lets me reach out easily to the COO, CEO and CFO to bring ideas that might be applied to the company, which is uncommon in big organizations.
What Excited You About Your Work At Avionos?
I’m excited to work at Avionos because each project feels like a new adventure. I like to embrace change and I enjoy doing something new each day. Working with fully remote teams around the US and Colombia also enrichens the experience in a globalized operation allowing multicultural exchange.
What Is The Proudest Moment Of Your Career?
My proudest moment of my career was when my team won a huge contract to work with one major smartphone brand.
What Skills Do You Think Help You Succeed The Most At Avionos?
Being able to communicate and react with the appropriate timing when things start shifting from good to okay and of course from okay to bad.
What’s The Best Way To Start Your Work Day?
With a good cup of Colombian coffee.
Where Do You See Yourself As a PM In The Future?
I see myself managing operations in an organization or managing programs for projects.
What Advice Would You Give To Someone Just Starting As a PM Or More Generally Just Starting At Avionos?
If you don’t have much to do in the first weeks, try reading about past projects and of course training yourself to get more knowledge around your area of expertise. We have a lot of training available to take advantage of.
Want to work with awesome people like Benjamin? Apply to be a Project Manager here.
